Combined stitching and crisscrosser attachment unit for collators



Aug. 3, 1965 c. J. WIRZ ETAL 3,198,511

COMBINED STITCHING AND CRISSCROSSER ATTACHMENT UNIT FOR COLLATORS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 19, 1963 INVENTORS CHRISTIAN J. wmz

By ROY E. CARLSON A TTORNE Y 1965 c. J. WIRZ ETAL 3,198,511

COMBINED STITCHING AND CRISSCROSSER ATTACHMENT UNIT FOR COLLATORS Filed April 19, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS CHRISTIAN J. WIRZ BY ROY E. CARLSON A TTORNE Y Aug. 3, 1965 c. J. WIRZ ETAL 3,198,511

COMBINED STITCHING AND CRISSCROSSER ATTACHMENT UNIT FOR COLLATORS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 19, 1963 INVENTORS CHRISTIAN J. WIRZ BY ROY E. CARLSON ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,198,511 CUMBENED STHTCHENG AND CRKSSQROSSER ATTACHMENT UNIT FUR C(BLLATQRS Christian J. Wirz, 5693 25th Ave. SE, Washington 21, D.C., and Roy E. Carlson, Rte. 4, Box 451, Vienna, Va. Filed Apr. 19, 1963, Ser. No. 274,254 5 Claims. (Cl. 270-53) This invention relates to improvements in sheet associating machines known as collators.

At least one well-known type of collator is manufactured along with two independently constructed or separate attachments for stitching or stapling the work and for crisscrossing the assembled stacked work as distinguished from the straight stacking thereof. The stitching attachment embodies a stitching or stapling mechanism and a coacting belt conveyer means mounted upon a wheeled support frame, and the complete attachment weighs about 400 pounds and must be lifted and connected with the discharge end of the collator when stitching is required. When crisscrossing of the work is required, the stitching attachment must be disconnected and lifted free of the collator proper and the separate and distinct crisscrossing attachment having its own wheeled support and weighing about 150 pounds must then be lifted into place and connected with the discharge end of the collator to produce the desired crisscrossing of the work by means of an oscillating collection tray or basket. Each separate attachment requires a certain amount of fioor space for storage and the constant interchanging of the two attachments is awkward and time-consuming and requires a considerable amount of manual effort. Where both stitching and crisscrossing operations are required, both attachments must in turn be connected with the collator and it is not possible to utilize both attachments in tandem or in series to perform the operations of stitching and crisscrossing.

According to the present invention, a single simplified combined unit for stitching and crisscrossing of work has been provided, the total weight of which is considerably less than the total weights of the two separate attachments of the prior art, and the combined attachment occupies no more floor space than the previously-employed stitcher attachment alone. Furthermore, some of the parts of both the stitcher and crisscrosser attachments have been eliminated in the new combination attachment, without loss of their functions, and the single combination attachmentvmay be permanently coupled to the discharge end of the collator, thereby rendering it unnecessary to frequently disengage and lift the attachment or move the same, about. With the combined attachment of the in- 'vention, the two operations of stitching and crisscrossing may be, carried out in series or in one continuous operation, or if preferred, the stitching mechanism may be renderedinactive and the conveyer belt means of the 'stitcher may simply serve to deliver the work in orderly fashion to the crisscrosser mechanism. Where straight stacking, as distinguished from crisscrossed stacking is desired subsequent to stitching, the crisscrosser receiving tray means may be disconnected from the actuating arm of the collator and the collection tray will receive and stack the work in a straight manner. Thus, the invention mechanism is not only much more simplified, compact and more economical than the two separate attachments of the prior art but is more flexible in its operation and generally is capable of effecting considerable econornies of operation and speeds up the overall operation of the collator considerably. The time required to make ready or change over from crisscrossing to straight stacking or from stapled to non-stapled work is reduced to seconds and the change over can be accomplished by one person where no lift of heavy equipment is involved. The

chances of damaging the equipment due to handling is reduced to a minimum and less floor space is needed because of the attachments being eliminated as a separate entity.

' Other objects and advantages of theinvention will be apparent to those skilled in the art during the course of the following detailed description.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this application and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same,

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a combined stitching and crisscrosser attachment for a collator in accordance with the invention,

t FIGURE 2 is an end elevational view of the attachment, 7

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary inner side elevational view of a crisscrosser gear box, eccentric and associated operating linkage,

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary exploded elevational view taken on line 4-4 of FIGURE 3, and

FIGURE 5 is a side elevational view of the attachment shown connected with the discharge end of the collator proper.

In the drawings wherein for the purpose of illustration is shown a preferred embodiment of the invention, the

numeral lil designates the collator proper which is conventional and forms no direct part of the present invention. The collator, as is well known, gathers sheets from fmanually supplied stacks at a number of stations along the collator and places the sheets on a main automatically controlled conveyer which advances the sheets one station at a time, where additional sheets are gathered from the stacks and placed on the. conveyer, and so on, until the desired number of'sheets have been gathered to make up a desired booklet or like work. The assembled work is then fed by the collator conveyer toward its discharge end 11 where the work may be collected in a basket or further processed by the stitching and/or crisscrossing attachments aforementioned or by other attachments well known in the art. The collator 10 shown in the drawings is Model Number 103-12 manufactured by Macey Company, 13835 Enterprise Ave., Cleveland 35, Ohio, a subsidiary of Harris-Intertype Corporation. Since the collatoris conventional and forms no direct part of the invention, it need not be described in further detail herein.

The combined stitching and crisscrossing attachment of the present invention is shown generally at 13 and this single unit takes the place of the two separate stitching and less permanently and it is entirelyv unnecessaryto lift or move the attachment in order to obtain the stitching and crisscrossing operations or one such operation without the other, and a single operator may, in a few seconds, adjust the attachment to obtain the desired modeof operation. In the prior art, where separate and independent crisscrossing and stitching attachments. were employed, it

,was necessary to move and lift each attachment into coupled relation with the collator 10 when either of the stitching or crisscrossing operations were desired and this involve-d considerable labor and lost time, as previously explained. i l i H The unit 13 includes an upper conveyer frame 17 having a vertical end plate 18 adapted to be detachably bolted at 19 to lugs 20, FIGURE 5, on the discharge end of the collator 10. The frame 17 is rigidly supported upon the wheeled frame by vertical plates 21 and 22 which depend rigidly therefrom and are suitably rigidly secured to the upper portions of the legs of the wheeled frame, as shown. The conveyer frame 17 supports a conventional endless belt conveyer structure shown generally at 23 and including upper and lower sets of endless belts or tapes 24 and 25 between which the assembled units of work are fed in a controlled manner to and beyond the stitching mechanism from the discharge end of the collator and beyond the stitching mechanism to the collection tray of the crisscrosser. The conveyer belts are powered by a drive motor 26 and gearing 27 on the frame 17 and the conveyer structure per se is conventional and well known and need not be described in greater detail for a full understanding of the present invention.

Also rigidly mounted upon the wheeled frame of the unit 13 is a conventional stitching or stapler mechanism 28, well known in the art, operating in conjunction with automatic stop gate means 29 to interrupt each work unit passing through the continuously moving belts 24 and 25 so that a staple may be applied through the corner of each work unit while the belts continue to move. This mode of operation and the mechanism for carrying it out is also well known and need not be described in detail herein. The stapler mechanism 28 and associated parts are rigidly interconnected with the adjacent side 30 of the frame 17 and are also rigidly interconnected with the wheeled supporting frame by an inclined plate 31 and a vertical bar 32 having its lower end secured to the bar 16, FIGURE 2. It may thus be seen that the entire invention unit or attachment 13 is bodily mounted upon the wheeled frame and rigidly integrated therewith.

The conventional conveyer structure 23 and the associated stitching mechanism 28 above-referred to is Model Number 204, manufactured and sold by Macey Company, 13835 Enterprise Ave., Cleveland 35, Ohio, a subsidiary of Harris-Intertype Corporation. This model designation covers all of the conventional mechanism on the unit 13 including a separate and independent drive motor 28' for the stitching mechanism 28, see FIGURE 1. The conventional conveying means of the collator 10, not shown, delivers the work units step-by-step or one stack at a time to the invention attachment or unit 13. When the motor 26 is operating, the conveyer belts 24 and 25 run continuously to convey each work unit delivered thereto by the collator toward the stitching mechanism 28 and the tray 55. When stitching of the work units is required, with or without a crisscrossing operation at the tray 55, the aforementioned stop gate means 29 on the conventional stitching mechanism 28 is pushed down manually and this interrupts each work unit passing through the moving conveyer belts 24 and 25. The movement of the stop gate means 29 also activates the stitching mechanism motor 28'.

The stitching mechanism will continue to stitch the work automatically until the stop gate means 29 is again elevated manually. All of thisis encompassed in the abovenamed Model Number 204 of Macey Company. When the stitching mechanism 28 is de-activated, the. conveyer "belts 24 and 25 continue to deliver unstitched work units to the tray 55 where straight stacking or crisscrossing of the work can be achieved selectively by means of the invention mechanism as described herein. There is no critical timing or speed relationship between theoperation of the collator 10 proper and the conveyer structure 23 or stitching mechanism 28 of the invention unit 13. This is true because the collator 10 simply delivers the separate stack work units one. stack at a time to the continuously driven belts 24 and 25. In like manner,'there is no complex or critical timing relationship between the conveyer 23 and stitching mechanism28. The conveyer 23 simply feeds the work units continuously toward the tray 55, as stated, where the work may be crisscrossed or straight stacked as desired through the invention mecha- L5. nism including elements 42, 44, 52 and associated parts. The stitching mechanism 28 will do its work without fail when th e stop gate means 29 is pjushed down to interrupt the work units and activate the stitching motor 28', as above explained.

A gear box 33 containing right angle bevel gears 34 and 35 is rigidly supported on one transverse bar 15 of the wheeled frame by means of a bracket 36 welded to the gear box and bar 15 or otherwise suitably secured thereto. The gear 35 is mounted upon the output drive shaft 37 of the collator proper, which drive shaft is a standard part of the collator, whereby the gear box 33 with the other bevel gear 34 may be directly coupled to the shaft 37 when the two bevel gears 34 and 35 are brought into mesh. The bevel gear 34, FIGURE 3, is secured to a short transverse shaft within the gear box 33 carrying a rotary disc 38 having an eccentric element 39, pivoted to a link 40 having its upper end pivoted at 41 to a vertically swingable bell crank 42, in turn pivotally secured at 43 to the top of the gear box. Through the means shown in FIG- URE 3, rotation of the collator drive shaft 37 imparts continuous oscillation to the bell crank 42 upon its fixed pivot 43.

An elongated connecting rod 44 having screw-threaded adjustable heads 45 has one end thereof detachably swiveled upon an extension pin 46, rigidly secured at 47 to the top of hell crank 42 by means of a ball and socket joint 48 within the head 45. A clip pin 49 is employed for detachably securing the head 45 to extension pin 46, FIGURES 3 and 4, and allowing quick disconnection of the connecting rod 44 from the bell crank 42. The other end of connecting rod 44 has its head 45 similarly swiveled and pivoted at 50 to a crosshead 51, adjustably rigidly secured to an inclined rock shaft 52, journaled for rotation within a bearing bracket 53, fixedly secured to a support bracket 54, in turn rigidly mounted upon support plate 22 of the main framework of the attachment. Consequently, oscillation of the bell crank 42 through the linkage shown imparts continuous and uniform oscillation of the rock shaft 52 within its bearings.

The delivery basket or tray 55 where the crisscrossing or plain stacking of the work is eflfected is secured bodily through a bottom angle bar 56 to a head 57 rigid with the upper end of rock shaft 52, whereby the tray 55 swings or oscillates in properly timed relation with the delivery of the work from the conveyer belts 24 and 25. As is conventional, the tray 55 has an upstanding straight stop plate 58 to effect straight stacking of the work in the tray and an auxiliary or angled stop plate 59 to effect alternate crisscrossing of the Work in the tray when such is desired. This crisscrossing means on the tray is broadly conventional and well-known as to its operation in conjunction with the delivery conveyer means and need not be shown or described in further detail herein.

When it is desired to crisscross the work in stacked relation in the tray 55, the connecting rod 44 remains actively connected with the bell crank 42 as depicted in full lines in FIGURE 5. When it is desired to lock the tray 55 in position for straight stacking of the work therein in conjunction with the stop plate 58, the clip pin 49 needs only to be removed from extension pin 46 and the swivel pin 45 on the upper end of connecting rod 44 may be hung in the inactive position shown in broken lines in the drawings from a fixed stud or bolt 60 for this purpose carried by the upper portion of one leg 14. In such position, the connecting rod 44 is unaffected by the oscillation of hell crank 42 and serves to lock the tray 55 in the straight stacking position where the tray does not oscillate.

When stitching of the work is not desired, and the stitching mechanism 28 has been rendered inactive, the conveyer belts 24 and 25 continue to feed the work to the tray 55 which collects and stacks the work in either crisscrossed or straight relation. Thus, by means of the combined attachment forming the invention, it is a very simple matter requiring only a few seconds of time by one operator to change over from stitched to non-stitched work with crisscrossing or straight stacking and there is never any necessity for moving or lifting separate stitching and crisscrossing attachments into or out of place on the collator. The attachment or uint 13 may remain permanently connected with the collator as shown in FIGURE 1 but if it is desired, the unit may be disconnected at any time and wheeled to a convenient storage location where it will require no more floor space than that required to store the prior art stitching attachment alone without the separate crisscrosser attachment of the prior art. The single combined attachment of the invention may perform all of the functions of the prior art separate attachments with greater facility and flexibility and with less time and less labor and in less floor space. The likelihood of damage to the mechanism by handling is substantially eliminated. Fewer total parts are embodied in the combination attachment and quite a number of parts from the prior art plural attachments have been eliminated Without eliminating their functions.

It is to be understood that the drive motor 26 for conveyer 23 is wired into the main drive motor of the collator in a conventional and well known manner. This allows the conveyer belts 24 and 25 to stop and start whenever the collator 10 stops and starts.

It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to, witthout departing from the spirit of the invention or scope of the subjoined claims.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. A collating apparatus comprising in combination a sheet gathering, feeding and grouping unit having a discharge end towards which successive groups of sheets are fed in an orderly manner, an independent supporting frame near and spaced from the discharge end of said unit, a conveyer and a stitching mechanism for said groups of sheets on the top of said supporting frame, said conveyer extending beyond the supporting frame and projecting toward said unit and including an end plate, said end plate adapted to be secured to said discharge end of said unit, whereby said conveyor may receive directly the groups of sheets as they are discharged in succession from said unit, said supporting frame and conveyer and stitching mechanism having a discharge side remote from said unit, a receiving and stacking tray for the groups of sheets passing from said discharge side, said tray including angularly spaced stop plates, a generally vertical oscillatable rock shaft rigid with and carrying and depending from said tray, bearing means on said supporting frame receiving and supporting the rock shaft, a crank element on the rock shaft near the lower end thereof, a connecting rod having one end pivoted to the crank element and extending generally transversely of the rock shaft and toward said unit, said unit having a constantly rotating drive shaft projecting therefrom adjacent the discharge end of the unit, gearing on said frame adapted to be connected with said drive shaft and driven thereby, oscillating lever means connected with and driven by said gearing and imparting reciprocatory movement to said connecting rod for in turn oscillating said crank and rock shaft, and means forming a quickly detachable connection between the adjacent end of said connecting rod and the oscillating lever means.

2. The invention as defined by claim 1, and means on said supporting frame for engaging and supporting the adjacent end of the connecting rod when the same is detached from the lever means.

3. A unitary stitching and stacking attachment unit for collators of the type which gather, group and feed sheets toward a discharge end of the collator, said apparatus comprising a wheeled supporting frame, a conveyer and a stitching mechanism on said frame at a proper elevation to receive groups of sheets discharging from the collator, said conveyer extending beyond said frame and projecting toward the collator and including an end plate, said end plate adapted to be secured to the discharge end of the collator, said conveyer having a discharge side remote from the collator, a receiving and stacking tray for the groups of sheets passing from said discharge side of said conveyer, said tray including angularly spaced stop plates, a generally vertical inclined rock shaft secured to and bodily carrying said tray and depending therefrom, a bearing bracket rigid with the supporting frame and receiving the rock shaft and forming a journal therefor, a short crank element adjustably secured to the rock shaft near its lower end and a substantial distance below said tray, a generally horizontal inclined connecting rod pivoted to the crank element and extending toward the collator and transversely of the rock shaft, a bell crank lever pivotally connected to the end of the connecting rod nearest the collator to impart reciprocation thereto for in turn oscillating said rock shaft and tray, and gearing on said supporting frame connected wtih and carrying the bell crank lever and adapted for detachable engagement with rotary driving means of the collator.

4. The invention as defined by claim 3, and wherein said gearing comprises a gear box, a bracket secured to and bodily carrying the gear box and rigid with said supporting frame, a bevel gear within the gear box, an element connected with the bevel gear at a point eccentric to the axis thereof and turned thereby, a link pivotally interconnecting the bell crank lever and said element, said rotary driving means comprising a rotational drive shaft of the collator having a second bevel gear thereon adapted to mesh with the first-named bevel gear when said end plate is secured to the discharge end of the collator.

5. A portable self-contained attachment unit for collators comprising a supporting framework, a poweroperated conveyer and stitching mechanism on the framework adapted to receive collated work directly from the discharge end of the collator, an abutment plate on the receiving end of the attachment unit adapted to be secured rigidly to the collator, a work receiving and stacking tray near the discharge end of the conveyer and stitching mechanism, an oscillatable rock shaft carrying said tray and journaled upon the framework, a gear box on the framework comprising gearing adapted for coupling engagement with the rotating part of the collator when the abutment plate is secured to the collator, an oscillating member on said gearing and driven thereby, a connecting rod and a crank means interconnecting the rock shaft and said oscillating member.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,937,979 12/ 3 3 Reynolds 270-5 3 1,994,636 3/35 Donnellan 93-93 2,709,584 5/55 Kleinberg a 270-53 EUGENE R. CAPOZIO, Primary Examiner.

WILLIAM B. PENN, Examiner. 

1. A COALLATING APPARATUS COMPRISING IN COMBINATION SHEET GATHERING, FEEDING AND GROUPING UNIT HAVING A DISCHARGE END TOWARDS WHICH SUCCESSIVE GROUPS OF SHEETS ARE FED IN AN ORDERLY MANNER, AN INDEPENDENT SUPPORTING FRAME NEAR AND SPACED FROM THE DISCHARGE END OF SAID UNIT, A CONVEYOR AND A STITCHING MECHANISM FOR SAID GROUPS OF SHEETS ON THE TOP OF SAID SUPPORTING FRAME, SAID CONVEYOR EXTENDING BEYOND THE SUPPORTING FRAME AND PROJECTING TOWARD SAID UNIT AND INCLUDING AN END PLATE, SAID END PLATE ADAPTED TO BE SECURED TO SAID DISCHARGE END OF SAID UNIT, WHEREBY SAID CONVEYOR MAY RECEIVED DIRECTLY THE GROUPS OF SHEETS AS THEY ARE DISCHANGED IN SUCCESSION FROM SAID UNIT, SAID SUPPORTING FRAME AND CONVEYOR AND STITCHING MECHANISM HAVING A DISCHARGE SIDE REMOTE FROM SAID UNIT, A RECEIVING AND STACKING TRAY FOR THE GROUPS OF SHEETS PASSING FROM SAID DISCHARGE SIDE, SAID TRAY INCLUDING ANGULARLY SPACED STOP PLATES, A GENERALLY VERTICAL OSCILLATABLE ROCK SHAFT RIGID WITH AND CARRING AND DEPENDING FROM SAID TRAY, BEARING MEANS ON SAID SUPPORTING FRAME RECEIVING AND SUPPORTING THE ROCK SHAFT, A CRANK ELEMENT ON THE ROCK SHAFT NEAR THE LOWER END THEREOF, A CONNECTING ROD HAVING ONE END PIVOTED TO THE CRANK ELE- 